Chapter 109

The Game Difficulty Is Insane

The lord of Veronia’s office.

After Glen’s shocking declaration, silence fell between the two men sitting across the table.

The first to break the silence was Willoden.

“…What did you just say?”

His expression said he wondered if he had misheard.

“I said I would like to propose a negotiation to you here,” Glen replied.

“And you say you will place my life on the table as the bargaining chip?”

“Yes.”

Glen answered calmly.

At that, Nicola, who was standing beside Willoden, twisted his face in fury.

“How dare you! What insolent words are these toward the Lord of Veronia!”

He looked ready to draw his sword at any moment and strike Glen down.

Willoden did not stop him, and the atmosphere in the office instantly turned hostile.

Yet Glen did not lose his composure.

Rather, with a polite smile and a gentle tone, he spoke.

“My lord. First, I apologize if my choice of words was somewhat aggressive. However, isn’t this worth discussing?”

As he spoke, Glen deliberately waved a single sheet of paper in his hand.

Willoden let out a low breath.

“Do you know what this is?”

“…That is the Black Horse Knights’ internal patrol log.”

The patrol log.

It contained detailed records of the Black Horse Knights’ patrol routes and schedules.

And this was the weapon Glen would use to drive the final nail into Willoden.

“Why does someone like you have that…?”

“That’s what I’d like to ask. Why would a confidential document meant to be kept within the Black Horse Knights be in my hands?”

“……”

Willoden’s face darkened.

“I happened to find this while walking around the domain a short while ago. More precisely, in the underground waterways beneath this city.”

Glen slowly leaned forward.

“Do you perhaps know what was down there, my lord?”

“Ghk…!”

Willoden avoided his gaze.

It seemed he had something weighing on his conscience, as he could not answer right away.

“I hesitate to say this, but quite coincidentally, there was a parish of the Black Cult in the city’s underground waterways.”

“……”

“I trust you know what would happen if an important patrol log like this were to fall into the hands of the Black Cult.”

With knowledge of the patrol routes and times, the Black Cult could abduct domain residents with ease.

Glen continued.

“Then how exactly did the Black Cult obtain this log? It should have been carefully stored in the knight commander’s office.”

Nicola tried to pressure Glen with his eyes, as if telling him to stop, but Glen paid him no attention.

“Honestly, isn’t it impossible unless someone deliberately handed it over to the Black Cult?”

“…Are you suggesting that the Black Horse Knights intentionally gave the patrol log to the Black Cult?”

A strange light passed through Willoden’s eyes.

“Otherwise, it feels far too unnatural for this log to be found in a Black Cult parish.”

At the obvious mockery, Willoden nervously scratched his neck.

“From the sound of it, you seem to be implying that I am supporting the Black Cult. But tell me—what benefit would Veronia gain from helping such vile heretics run rampant in the city?”

“You gain combat priests.”

“W-what?!”

Willoden’s eyes widened like lanterns.

“W-what… are you talking about…?”

“The Black Cult itself brings no benefit. However, the wraiths created through their rituals and experiments become excellent nourishment for strengthening a priest’s holy power.”

In other words, Willoden had allowed the Black Cult to kidnap his domain’s people for rituals and experiments.

And the wraiths born in that process were used to train Veronia’s combat priests.

‘There’s a reason he was called a twisted alchemist in the original story.’

Willoden himself surely knew how horrific his actions were.

But due to his excessively calculating nature, he could not abandon such corrupt methods.

‘As long as it doesn’t get exposed, he can mass-produce elite combat priests.’

However, such tactics did not work on Glen, who knew the full truth.

“If the fact that the Lord of Veronia secretly supports the Black Cult were to be revealed, what do you think would happen?”

Even a grand lord ruling this region would not escape being burned at the stake.

In the Papal States, crimes involving heretics were treated more severely than almost any other.

“So when you said your bargaining chip was my life… this is what you meant.”

“Yes. But I have no desire to make an enemy of you, my lord. If you simply dispatch the combat priests, I will turn a blind eye to this matter.”

“…Kuh… heh heh heh.”

Willoden let out a dry laugh.

“This is far too detailed to be mere speculation. Just how did you uncover all this…?”

At the same time, the air around him suddenly turned cold.

“…You.”

He slowly raised his eyes.

The vitality drained from his black eyes, which had been filled with anxiety and fear.

“You know far too much.”

Humans turned into wraiths.

And wraiths turned into holy power.

A twisted alchemist, willing to use even his people’s lives for his own benefit, finally revealed his true face.

“I’m afraid I have no intention of accepting your negotiation. After all, there’s no guarantee this blackmail would only happen once.”

He was right.

As long as Glen knew the secret of Willoden supporting the Black Cult, he could extort him again and again.

“However, I would like to request your eternal silence.”

Willoden smiled sinisterly from his hunched posture. It looked far removed from the dignity of a 7-star priest.

Clang—clang—

Nicola, the Black Horse Knight, drew his sword and strode toward Glen.

He intended to kill Glen and bury his disgrace.

However—

“Did you really think I wouldn’t have anticipated this much?”

Glen smiled instead.

“…What?”

“If you think I came here with nothing but childish bravado just because I’m young, that would be a grave mistake.”

“What do you mean?”

“This is what I mean.”

With a lifted corner of his lips, Glen pulled out the red cross hanging around his neck.

“That is… surely!”

“Yes. What you’re thinking is correct. This is an inquisitor’s rosary, given to me by a high-ranking inquisitor of the Inquisition.”

“Why do you have such a thing?!”

Willoden’s pupils shook violently.

Possessing an inquisitor’s rosary meant being under the protection of the Inquisition.

“I’ve had some… connections with them through various incidents. In any case.”

A sharp light flowed into Glen’s eyes.

“Will you continue what you were about to do?”

“Kgh…!”

Willoden let out a groan.

Nicola, who had been approaching Glen, also stopped, cold sweat running down his face.

If Glen used the inquisitor’s rosary, then even if they killed him afterward, Willoden would have to face inquisitors coming to Veronia.

Inquisitors had visited Veronia before.

But considering how relentless they were when summoned under an emergency order, it was best to avoid that outcome.

“Additionally, my loyal maid is waiting somewhere in the city. I instructed her to send ravens to Wordsworth and the Inquisition if I do not return by midnight.”

Another nail driven into the coffin.

Silence followed.

Willoden’s mind grew chaotic as he searched for a way out.

‘Should I kill him and sacrifice Sir Nicola to cut off the trail? No… the Inquisition would surely investigate further.’

‘Or destroy all the evidence… No. Do I even know what instructions he gave his maid?’

No option was clean.

The size of the loss changed, but loss itself could not be avoided.

And above all, he had no idea how much this boy truly knew about his secrets.

In the end, Willoden lowered his head.

“I have lost.”

Willoden’s declaration of defeat.

At the same time, a victor’s smile spread across Glen’s lips.

From the moment this battle of wits began, Willoden had already lost to Glen.

After all, his opponent knew not only his strengths, but also every secret and disgrace he wished to hide.

With sufficient knowledge, Glen would always hold the advantage in such contests.

In any case, Willoden admitted defeat, and Glen, as the victor, proudly claimed his spoils.

Three hundred combat priests of Veronia and one hundred Black Horse Knights—more than he had originally planned.

“But did you really need to add that condition?”

As usual, Romina shamelessly occupied Glen’s bed as she spoke.

“Condition? Ah, the promise to remove the cursed fog?”

“Yeah. You could’ve just blackmailed that creepy guy and taken the troops. Why bother helping him?”

“That would’ve been best, sure. If it were possible.”

Romina raised an eyebrow.

“If it were possible?”

“To get all those troops, the cursed fog has to be resolved.”

Though Willoden was an evil man, he hadn’t lied about that.

As he said, most of Veronia’s combat priests were tied down dealing with the cursed fog descending from the north.

To receive their support, the fog problem had to be solved.

In fact, using the Black Cult to train combat priests was the best option Willoden had to deal with the fog.

If he hadn’t done even that, Veronia would have been wiped out by the cursed fog long ago.

‘He didn’t have many choices.’

Of course, that did not excuse his unethical actions.

‘An evil man is still an evil man.’

A lord who joined hands with heretical fanatics and sacrificed his own people could never justify himself.

“So in the end, the cursed fog is the real problem?”

“That’s the key point.”

“Doesn’t it annoy you? You finally grabbed his weakness, but now you’re doing him a favor.”

Romina frowned.

Even though it wasn’t her problem, she clearly disliked Glen working for Willoden’s domain.

But Glen’s expression was calm.

“Who says it’s a favor?”

“Huh?”

“Did you forget what you said earlier today? Solving a domain’s problem alone is already a benefit for me.”

“Ah…”

“The moment Willoden set the condition of removing the cursed fog in exchange for troops, I stopped having anything to lose.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

Romina stared at him with wide eyes, and that familiar sly light flowed in Glen’s gaze.

“Willoden has essentially lost the greatest achievement he would ever build in his life—to me.”

TO BE CONTINUED....